5/06/2009 @ 4:25PM

In Depth: America's Most Overpriced Cities

To compile our list, we looked at earnings potential and living expenses in the 50 largest continental U.S.
metropolitan statistical areas and metropolitan divisions–geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for use by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics. We ranked these metros using four measures: average salary for workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher, from
PayScale.com; annual unemployment statistics from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics; cost of living, from Moody’s
Economy.com; and the Housing Opportunity Index from the National Association of Homebuilders and Wells Fargo, which measures the number of homes sold in a given area that would be affordable to a family earning the local median income, based on standard mortgage underwriting criteria.

No. 4: New York, N.Y.

(New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y./N.J.)

Cost of Living: 47 of 50

Housing Opportunity: 50 of 50

Unemployment Rate: 37 of 50

Average Salary: 6 of 50

Read on for more real estate news including lists and rankings, America’s most livable cities and places where it’s toughest to get by.